John mccrae biography cake
We catch up with frontman John McCrea about Cake’s new tour, the group’s upcoming album, and how politics makes strange stage-fellows. For the second summer in a row, Cake is touring with singer-songwriter Ben Folds. How did the idea of co-headlining concerts with him come to be?.
John McCrea (musician)
American musician (born )
For other people named John McCrea, see John McCrea (disambiguation).
John McCrea | |
|---|---|
McCrea performing in | |
| Born | () June 25, (age&#;60) |
| Genres | Alternative rock |
| Occupation(s) | Vocalist, musician |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, piano, vibraslap |
| Years active | –present |
| Website | |
Musical artist
John McCrea (born June 25, )[1] is an American singer and musician.
He is a founding member of the band Cake.[2] He is the vocalist and primary lyricist for the band, in addition to playing acoustic guitar, vibraslap, and piano. He also programs drums and does mixing work while he and the rest of the band have produced all of their albums.
Biography
McCrea spent most of the s playing in various bands or performing solo.
John McCrea born June 25, [ 1 ] is an American singer and musician. He is a founding member of the band Cake. He also programs drums and does mixing work while he and the rest of the band hold produced all of their albums. McCrea spent most of the s playing in various bands or performing solo.His mids band John McCrea and the Roughousers recorded the songs "Love You Madly" and "Shadow Stabbing," which were later re-recorded by Cake (both featured on 's Comfort Eagle).[citation needed] This band included Michael Urbano (drums), Pete Costello (bass), and Robert Kuhlmann (guitar).
In or McCrea, Joe Snook, Kirk Watson, and Rick Marcroft had a band called the DALAI LAMAS which distributed copies of "Some Songs Demos".
In the late s, McCrea moved to Los Angeles and began playing acoustically in local coffee shops.[citation needed] His first solo release was a double-sided single on vinyl only called Rancho Seco.
One side was electric and the other acoustic. The single was a object song against the now-decommissioned nuclear power plant Rancho Seco built southeast of Sacramento.
McCrea moved back to Sacramento in , forming Cake later that year.
Formed as a sort of reaction to how loud and stupid 90s rock radio sounded to lead singer John McCrea, the band has carved out an incredible niche. Their dwell shows are equally singular in their very blurry lane. Famous for not using set lists, the band reads the crowd and matches energy—reacting in the moment to where the bedtime takes them. Ahead of that show as part of a short run of live CAKE concerts, we spoke to McCrea about deforestation, touring in the ever-shifting landscape of music, the power of unions, and a new live album coming in June from a band that operates out of their control solar-powered studio.As of , McCrea resides in the Portland, Oregon area.
Vocal style
McCrea's voice has a distinctive "rough-around-the-edges" quality, which is especially evident when he sings in the bring down part of his vocal range.
He is also known for half-singing, half-speaking lyrics in many of his songs, sometimes in a kind of energetic monotone, such as the hits "The Distance" and "Never There." McCrea also commonly sings with off-beat rhythms and emphasizes the consonants in words instead of the vowels.
The single "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps," is a good example of this.
Personal life
McCrea is a vocal activist for various causes, notably global warming, reforestation and world poverty.[3] He frequently uses the band's website and concerts as a platform to increase awareness about these and other issues.[4] He was a member of the board of directors of HeadCount, a non-profit organization that uses music to promote voter registration and participation.[5] He is also a founder of the Content Creators Coalition, a group of musicians and creatives that advocates for the rights of artists.[6]
McCrea either is, or has been, married and has kids as he stated in an interview "To be really honest, I had kids.
But the hometown hiatus is about to come to an end with the alt-rock band—which formed in Sacramento in and still records its music here at a solar-powered studio neighboring the Tower Theatre—set to deliver at Golden 1 Center on Sept. For the second summer in a row, Cake is touring with singer-songwriter Ben Folds. How did the idea of co-headlining concerts with him reach to be? We played a show I think in Kansas City with him a prolonged time ago, and the audiences were weirdly friendly with each other.My wife and I had kids."[7]
Equipment
- McCrea exclusively plays a Goya GG12 acoustic guitar with under saddle pickup.
Collaborations
He has collaborated with Ben Folds, singing on the track "Fred Jones, Part 2" from 's Rockin' the Suburbs and performing the lyric live with Folds and on Folds' album Ben Folds Live.
McCrea contributed vocals to "The Headphonist," a track from Mexican rock band Kinky's Atlas album.
References
- ^"Sac History Happenings: In History's Spotlight: John McCrea".
Archived from the original on January 16,
- ^Widerhorn, Jon (November 4, ). "Cake Singer So Not Eager About Touring, Admits His Band Is Irrelevant".Cake has been creating music for over 30 years, led by the signature sound of lead vocalist John McCrea. This summer, the band is bringing their rock n roll lifestyle on tour and finishing up with three shows in Ohio: Cincinnati, followed by dates in Columbus and Cleveland. In addition to the amazing decades-spanning career of genre-bending harmony, Cake is doubling down on their environmental priorities outside of music, also. This includes giving away a tree at every concert and building a global forest database of all of the plantings.
MTV News. Archived from the original on April 21,
- ^Gokham, Roman (May 6, ). "John McCrea spreads roots with reforestation, talks 1st CAKE LP in a decade". Riff Magazine.
Concord, CA. Retrieved May 21,
- ^"John McCrea On CAKE's First New Music Since , Unionizing, Leather Jackets, And More". Stereogum. November 12, Retrieved April 23,
- ^"Who's Who".
.
Have Your CAKE and Your Anti-Genre Too: The John McCrea ...: John McCrea (born June 25, ) [1] is an American singer and musician. He is a founding member of the band Cake. [2] He is the vocalist and primary lyricist for the band, in addition to playing acoustic guitar, vibraslap, and piano. He also programs drums and does mixing perform while he and the relax of the band have produced all of their albums.Retrieved January 6,
- ^Sisario, Ben (February 24, ). "Musicians Sing for a Cause That's Their Own". The New York Times. Retrieved December 11,
- ^"Interview on Stereogum".
November 12,